Studying a Joint Degree

Age: 29

College or University:
I studied Marine Biology/ Oceanography at Bangor University. As a mature student, I already had more than 11 years experience in the big wide world. I spent all this time as a Chief Petty Officer Marine Engineering Artificer in the Royal Navy, and served most of my time aboard nuclear submarines

Going back to university:
I was unhappy with how much further my career would have developed if I'd stuck with the Navy and Engineering, and I thought that I should break into a new field in which I had an interest, while I still could.

Subjects studied:
Obviously, I had an interest in Marine Biology from my time in the Navy, and I wanted to learn more about marine animals. Even now, I don’t necessarily want to work in the field - I’m hoping to go into management consultancy!

The course:
Originally, I was accepted to do the single honours degree in Marine Biology. As a mature student, I was accepted without too many problems. After I’d been doing Marine Biology for a few months, I decided to change to joint honours in Marine Biology and Oceanography. This was because work in Marine Biology is hard to find, and I think employers are after generalists nowadays, not specialists, and I thought it would look more rounded.

Joint degree:
Both parts of the course complement each other, in fact, I find it hard to imagine how one can be understood without the other. In terms of workload, you do half and half in each subject. I was worried that doing a joint degree would mean twice the workload, but in fact, it’s structured so that the workload is similar to a single honours degree in either subject. I’m here for the sake of learning, so I wanted to combine my interest in Marine Biology with the more ‘employable’ aspects of Oceanography.

Advice:
It’s a positive move, so if you think it’s what you want to do, you will not regret it.